The present invention relates to a gun sight mounting system for a shotgun or other firearm having a vent rib on its barrel. More particularly, the present invention relates to a gun sight which may be readily mounted to a shotgun barrel having a vent rib for providing adjustable sighting capabilities for shotgun barrels for firing of slugs and other projectiles accurately from a standard shotgun barrel having a vent rib.
In the past, shotguns have primarily been designed for wing shooting and the like wherein moving targets must readily be identified and sighted for a moving shot. Because in such situations there is often not enough time to precisely sight in the target, shotguns have been equipped generally with flat plane type sights such that the shooter may look directly down the barrel for sighting in and leading the target for an accurate shot.
In recent years, shotgun barrels having vent ribs have increasingly been successfully utilized in shotguns to provide advantages in sighting and hitting a target with a shotgun. Such vent ribs have been advantageous in that they provide a flat clean sight plane for the shooter to look down and quickly superimpose the barrel onto the target. Also, vent ribs act to better dissipate heat which causes visual distortion after several shots have been fired from the shotgun.
While shotguns having vent ribs have been highly advantageous in sports such as trap and skeet shooting, and general wing shooting, such sights do not readily lend themselves to rifle-like accuracy which would be useful in hunting big game and the like. Because, in the past big game and other more stationary targets were not generally hunted with shotguns, the vent rib sighting system was generally sufficient for any type of shot loads and the like which were to be used on various types of targets where a shot pattern is utilized. However, in recent years due increasing population densities and to the range associated with rifles, several states have created special "shotgun only" area for hunting game such as white-tailed deer, for instance. Thus, increasingly, shotguns are being used in hunting of big game in areas where traditionally rifles and such had been used. With the advent of such laws and changes in hunting conditions it has been increasingly a goal in the art to provide better barrels and sights for shotguns, to provide increased accuracy for slug type projectiles such as are used with hunting of big game.
One of the primary remedies for the accuracy requirements of these new sports has been the use of special slug barrels which may be readily replaced on some pump and automatic type shotguns in use today. While such slug barrels have provided increased accuracies, in that they are designed for shooting mainly projectile loads and also have standard rifle type sights on them, such barrels are somewhat cost prohibitive in that the entire barrel is needed to provide such accuracy in a shotgun.
Thus, in recent years, several sighting systems have been proposed for use as attachments for shotguns which do not require the replacement of the wing shooting barrel with a slug barrel or the like. Such sights range from telescopic sights, which are attached to the receiver of the gun, to some sights which have been proposed to be attached to vent rib barrels of shotguns. In general, these sights have not received favorable use in that the sights attached to the receivers generally were expensive and do not produce premium accuracy whereas some of the sights used in the vent rib applications have been relatively cheaply constructed and have not provided good solid mounting to the vent rib which would withstand jolts from repeated firing. Thus, even with these add-on type sights, the shotgun did not obtain its maximum accuracy.
Therefore, it has been a goal in the art to provide a superior gun sight mounting system for mounting of gun sights to vent rib barrels thereby reducing the need for a separate slug barrel and without loosing accuracy due to repeated firing of the shotguns.